Sprinkler and Method for Controlling the Same

ABSTRACT

A sprinkler and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. The sprinkler and the method can uniformly supply water on a variety of topographies without any waste of water. The sprinkler includes a fluid supply pipe to supply fluid; a nozzle to spray the fluid supplied from the fluid supply pipe; a flux regulator to control an amount of the fluid supplied to the nozzle; and a controller to control operation of the flux regulator.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a sprinkler and a method forcontrolling the same. More particularly, the present invention relatesto a sprinkler capable of uniformly supplying water on a variety oftopographies without any waste of water, and a method for controllingthe same.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, sprinklers refer to devices installed on farms, lawngardens, and other places to water plants thereon. The sprinklers can beclassified into a pop-up type sprinkler, a stationary type sprinkler,and a rotary type sprinkler combining the pop-up type and the stationarytype in terms of watering manner. For the pop-up type sprinkler, asprinkler head concealed under the ground at ordinary times is raisedabove the ground to spray water in operation, and is then returned backto an original location after the operation. The stationary typesprinkler is exposed above the ground at ordinary times, and sprayswater while rotating in operation. Although the stationary typesprinkler has a merit in view of inexpensive price, it generally causesinconvenience in grass cutting due to collision with a lawn mower. Therotary type sprinkler is configured to slowly spray water whilerotating, and thus is well suited for large areas.

In recent times, the rotary type sprinkler is generally used in variousfields. In practice, with a water supply pipe buried under the ground, anumber of rotary type sprinklers are disposed at constant intervals tosupply water over a wide area.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

A conventional sprinkler is configured to supply water at a constanthydraulic pressure, which results in water supply to a limited area.Further, since the conventional sprinkler supplies water to a circulararea around the sprinkler, it fails to uniformly supply water in a widearea or in a variety of topographies. In order to solve these problems,it is necessary to place the sprinklers such that circular areas to besupplied with water overlap each other. However, when the sprinklers aredisposed in this manner, a great number of sprinklers are not onlyrequired, but water is also wasted due to overlapping of the watersupplying areas. Furthermore, an increase in the number of sprinklerscauses an increase in installation costs of the sprinklers, and requiresmore complicated placement of the water supply pipe, which alsoincreases costs for maintenance and repair of the water supply pipe. Inparticular, to spray water distally on an area having a narrow distalend as in a corner area, water must be sprayed to a portion of the areawhich does not require water supply, thereby causing unnecessary wasteof water. Therefore, there is a need of solving these problems of theconventional sprinkler.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of theconventional techniques, and an aspect of the present invention is toprovide a sprinkler capable of uniformly supplying water in a variety oftopologies. It is another aspect of the present invention to provide asprinkler capable of preventing water waste. It is a further aspect ofthe present invention to provide a sprinkler allowing simple placementof a water supply pipe. It is yet another aspect of the presentinvention to provide a sprinkler capable of realizing variousillumination effects.

Technical Solution

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a sprinklerincludes: a fluid supply pipe to supply fluid; a nozzle to spray thefluid supplied from the fluid supply pipe; a flux regulator to controlan amount of the fluid supplied to the nozzle; and a controller tocontrol operation of the flux regulator.

The flux regulator may include a manifold pipe communicating with thenozzle; and a first valve to selectively regulate the fluid suppliedthrough the manifold pipe. Preferably, the flux regulator includes asecond valve disposed between the water supply pipe and the manifoldpipe to regulate the fluid supplied to the manifold pipe.

The flux regulator may include a second valve to regulate the fluidsupplied to the nozzle.

The sprinkler may further include a direction regulator to change adirection of the nozzle. The direction regulator may include a drivenshaft and a driving unit to rotate the driven shaft. The driven shaftmay include a changing part to change a water spraying direction of thenozzle. The changing part may include a support to restrict movement ofthe nozzle. Preferably, the changing part includes a ball provided tothe support, a coupling piece coupled to the ball, and a restrictionmember provided to the coupling piece to restrict movement of the ball.

For improved functionality, the sprinkler may further include a lightingdevice to illuminate light in a water spraying direction.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method forcontrolling a sprinkler includes receiving spraying information;determining a distance and area to be sprayed with a fluid according tothe received spraying information; and spraying the fluid by controllingat least one of a pump, a fluid controller, a nozzle, and a directionregulator according to the determined fluid spraying distance and area.

In one embodiment, the step of spraying the fluid includes selectivelyregulating the fluid supplied through a manifold pipe communicating withthe nozzle.

In one embodiment, the step of spraying the fluid includes selectivelyregulating the fluid supplied to the manifold.

In one embodiment, the step of spraying the fluid includes spraying thefluid while rotating the nozzle with the direction regulator or sprayingthe fluid by selecting a specific nozzle among nozzles disposed in acircular arrangement.

In one embodiment, the step of spraying the fluid includes spraying thefluid while changing a spraying angle of the nozzle.

Preferably, the method of the present invention may further includeilluminating light to the spraying fluid. Here, the step of illuminatinglight includes changing brightness and color of light depending on inputpresentation data.

Advantageous Effects

As set forth above, according to the present invention, the sprinklercan supply a fluid to a wide area in a variety of directions andtopologies, which enables a reduction in the number of sprinklers. Withsuch a reduction in the number of sprinklers, the sprinkler according tothe present invention can decrease time and cost for maintenance, repairand installation thereof, and enables more efficient space utilizationfor other uses.

In addition, according to the present invention, the sprinkler cancontrol the spraying distance and direction of fluid, which enablesfluid supply only to a desired location, and reduction in fluidconsumption leading to cost reduction.

Further, according to the present invention, since a fluid can besupplied to a complicated wide area even with a decreased number ofsprinklers, it is possible to simplify placement of a water supply pipe,and to reduce time and cost for maintenance and repair of the watersupply pipe.

Further, according to the present invention, the sprinkler is providedwith a lighting device, which can illuminate light toward the nozzlespraying a fluid, and can change brightness and color of light inconjunction with an amount of the spraying fluid, providing variousillumination effects and psychological stability.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sprinkler according to a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the sprinkler according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of nozzles of the sprinkler according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a changing part of thesprinkler according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the sprinkler according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematically enlarged view of a flux regulator of asprinkler according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the sprinkler according to the secondembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method for controlling a sprinkler accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Herein, the drawingsmay be exaggerated in thickness of lines or scale of components for thepurpose of descriptive convenience and clarity only. Furthermore, termsused herein should be defined in consideration of functions ofcomponents of the present invention and thus can be changed according tothe custom or intention of users or operators. Therefore, definition ofsuch terms should be determined according to overall disclosures setforth herein. Herein, although the embodiments of the present inventionwill be described as spraying water, the present invention is riotlimited to water, and can be applied to supplying various kinds offluids, such as liquid fertilizers, chemical agents, etc.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sprinkler according to a firstembodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view ofthe sprinkler according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a nozzle of the sprinkler accordingto the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is an explodedperspective view of a changing part of the sprinkler according to thefirst embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a block diagramof the sprinkler according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, the sprinkler according to the firstembodiment includes a body 10, a water supply pipe 20 to supply water tothe body 10, nozzles 30 to spray water supplied from the water supplypipe 20, a flux regulator 50 to adjust an amount of water supplied tothe nozzles 30, and a controller 100 to control operation of the fluxregulator 50.

Water is supplied according to spray information, such as data input tothe controller 100 through an input unit 110 or data stored in a memory120. The supply of water can be remotely controlled by the input unit110.

A pump 22 is provided to the water supply pipe 20 or a water reservoir(not shown). When the pump 22 is activated, water flows from the watersupply pipe 20 into the nozzles 30 via the flux regulator 50, and issprayed from the nozzles 30. In this embodiment, the pump 22 is providedto the water supply pipe 20, but the present invention is not limited tothis construction. Rather, there can be various modifications inplacement of the pump such as placement in a connection duct positionedbetween the water supply pipe and the flux regulator. Further, in thisembodiment, the plural nozzles are disposed at substantially the sameheight in a circular arrangement. However, the nozzles can be disposedat different heights or at different angles. Of course, the sprinklermay include a single nozzle to supply water. As such, since the pluralnozzles 30 are disposed at the same angle or at different angles in thesprinkler, a spraying angle and distance of water can be determineddepending on the shape and placement construction of the nozzles, afterthe nozzles 30 intended to supply water are determined.

The flux regulator 50 includes manifold pipes 54 communicating with thenozzles 30, and first valves 56 to selectively regulate water suppliedthrough the manifold pipes 54. In this embodiment, the manifold pipes 54are connected with a chamber 52 such that water supplied from the watersupply pipe 20 passes through the chamber 52 and manifold pipes 54 intothe nozzles 30. The first valves 56 may be solenoid valves, andcontrolled by the controller 100 to selectively regulate water suppliedto the nozzles. When a constant amount of water is supplied into thechamber 52, falling locations of water sprayed from the nozzles 30 canbe changed depending on whether the first valves 56 are open or closed.For example, in the case where the sprinkler includes a plurality ofmanifold pipes 54, some of the first valves 56 are closed to allow waterto be sprayed a far distance through some of the nozzles 30, compared tothe case where all of the first valves 56 are open. In other words, itis possible to control the falling locations of water depending on thenumber of open or closed first valves 56. Specifically, when increasingthe number of manifold pipes 54 closed by the associated first valves56, a flowing speed of water through the other manifold pipes 54 notclosed increases, thereby increasing a spraying distance of water. Ofcourse, the falling location of water can be determined by an output ofthe pump 22, installation angles and shapes of the nozzles 30, and soon.

The controller 100 controls operations of the pump 22, the nozzles 30,the flux regulator 50, a direction regulator 70, etc. to control places,distances, directions, and fluxes of water according to input sprayinformation. For example, the controller 100 allows water to be suppliedby increasing the output of the pump 22, if there is an area where wateris not supplied by the sprinkler under the current conditions includingan opening degree of the flux regulator 50, the shapes and placementangles of the nozzles 30, etc.

In this embodiment, the sprinkler includes the direction regulator 70 tochange the directions of the nozzles 30. The direction regulator 70includes a driven shaft 72, and a driving unit 74, 75 and 76 to rotatethe driven shaft 72. The direction regulator 70 is controlled by thecontroller 100, and serves to rotate the nozzles 30 such that watersprayed from the nozzles 30 can be supplied to a wide area or a desiredlocation. For example, in the case where there is an area where water isnot sprayed, the controller 100 rotates the driven shaft 72 so as toallow water to be supplied to that area. Alternatively, the controller100 can control the operation of the direction regulator 70 whilerotating the driven shaft 72 so as to allow water to be supplied to adesired location and area.

Preferably, the nozzles 30 are disposed on the driven shaft 72 ordisposed to be moved in connection with movement of the driven shaft 72.In this embodiment, the nozzles 30 are supported by a support 34.However, it should be noted that the present invention is not limited tothis configuration, and that there can be various modifications, such asinsertion of the nozzles into a coupling hole of the driven shaft 72,coupling of the nozzles to the driven shaft 72 with a separate fastener,etc.

The driven shaft 72 is rotatably coupled to the body 10 or to a hollowshaft 71 that is coupled to the body 10 as shown in FIG. 1. When thedriven shaft 72 is provided to the hollow shaft 71, a bearing 77 orother members are preferably disposed between the hollow shaft 71 andthe driven shaft 72. When the driven shaft 72 is rotated by the drivingunit 74, 75 and 76, the nozzles 30 connected to the driven shaft 72 arealso rotated. Since the manifold pipes 54 extend from the body 10 intothe nozzles 30 through the hollow shaft 71 and driven shaft 72, thedriven shaft 72 is preferably configured so as not to rotate 360 degreesto prevent twisting of the manifold pipes 54.

The driving unit 74, 75 and 76 includes a motor 74 disposed on thehollow shaft 71, a driving gear 75 provided to a rotational shaft of themotor 74, and a driven gear 76 provided to the driven shaft 72 andengaging with the driving gear 75. When the motor 74 is driven, thedriven shaft 72 is rotated to regulate the directions of the nozzles 30.

Preferably, the driven shaft 72 further includes a changing part 32 toregulate a spraying direction or a placement angle of each nozzle 30.The changing part 32 includes a support 34 to restrict movement of thenozzle 30, a coupling piece 36 engaging with a ball 34 a, and arestriction member 38 provided to the coupling piece 36 to restrictmovement of the ball 34 a. The support 34 may mechanically restrict alocation of the nozzle 30 or electronically restrict the location of thenozzle 30 via a motor such as an actuator. In this embodiment, thesupport 34 will be described as mechanically restricting the location ofthe nozzle 30 as one example. The support 34 is preferably provided witha circular or elliptical ball 34 a to achieve change in location of thenozzle 30. The coupling piece 36 may be integrally formed with asecuring part 31 disposed on a resting part 73, or may include twosub-pieces hingably provided at one point on the resting part 73, asshown in FIG. 4. Here, the resting part 73 is formed on the driven shaft72. The restriction member 38 has threads formed thereon and can adjusta fastening force of the coupling piece 36 by rotation. When aseparation between the two sub-pieces of the coupling piece 36 isincreased by adjusting the restriction member 38, the ball 34 a ismoved, allowing regulation of the angle of the nozzle 30. The method ofadjusting the fastening force in this manner is well known to a personskilled in the art, and a detailed description thereof will be omittedherein.

Preferably, the sprinkler further includes a lighting device 200 toilluminate light in a water spraying direction. The lighting device 200is controlled by the controller 100, and is detachably attached to anyof the body 10 and the driven shaft 72 of the sprinkler. The lightingdevice 200 will be described in detail as below.

FIG. 6 is a schematically enlarged view of a flux regulator of asprinkler according to a second embodiment of the present invention, andFIG. 7 is a block diagram of the sprinkler according to the secondembodiment of the present invention. Herein, the same components asthose of the first embodiment in view of structure and operation will bedenoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptionsthereof will be omitted.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, a flux regulator 50 of this embodimentfurther includes a second valve 192 to regulate water supplied to thenozzles 30 (see FIG. 2). The second valve 192 includes a solenoid valveand the like, and serves to selectively regulate water flow according toa control signal from the controller 100 (see FIG. 5). The second valve192 is disposed between the water supply pipe 196 and the manifold pipes54 to regulate water supplied to the manifold 54. By selectively openingor closing the second valve 192, the supply of water is regulated. Inthis manner, when the supply of water is regulated, a water sprayingdistance can be changed, thereby allowing water to be continuouslysupplied over a wide area. In this embodiment, the second valve 192 isprovided to the water supply pipe 196. However, the present invention isnot limited this configuration, and there are various modification inplacement of the second valve, such as placement of the second valve 192on a manifold pipe 154, and so on.

Next, operation and controlling method of the sprinklers according tothe first and second embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a method for controlling a sprinkler accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 5, 7, and 8, after mounting a body 10 of thesprinkler on the ground with a connector 12, a water supply pipe 20 isconnected to the body 10 to constitute the sprinkler. With the sprinklerset in this manner, water is supplied around the sprinkler. At thistime, a manner of supplying water is determined according to sprayinginformation input from an input unit 110 such as a remote controller, aterminal unit, a computer, etc. When the spraying information is input(S100), a controller 100 determines a distance and area to be suppliedwith water (S200). On the other hand, a memory 120 stores various kindsof data corresponding to the input spraying information, control datarelated to a direction regulator 70, a flux regulator 50, brightness andcolor of a light device 200, etc. When the spraying information storedin the memory 120 is input from the input unit 110, the controller 100controls operation of the sprinkler corresponding to the control datastored in the memory 120. Further, when receiving an input of specificspraying information newly generated by a user to supply water to aspecific area, the controller operates the sprinkler according to thisnewly generated specific information. At this time, the sprinkler cansupply water to the specific area, or can supply water while rotating,according to the input spraying information.

When the water spraying distance and area is determined, the controller100 controls at least one of a pump 22, the flux regulator 50, nozzles30, and the direction regulator 70 to spray water (S300). Hereinafter,the method of controlling the respective components by the controller100 will be described in detail.

First, a method of controlling the flux regulator 50 by the controller100 to spray water will be described. The controller 100 selectivelyregulates water supplied through manifold pipes 54 communicating withthe nozzles 30. If some of first valves 56 are closed, a flowing speedof water increases, so water can be supplied to a far distance. At thistime, the closed first valves 56 are selectively determined according toinput spraying information. In other words, it is possible to supplywater to a far distance by opening some of nozzles 30 corresponding to atarget area located at the far distance while closing the other nozzles30 corresponding to an undesired area, among a plurality of nozzleslocated at different heights in a circular arrangement. At this time,opening and closing the nozzles 30 can be performed by the first valves56. In other words, when some of the manifold pipes 54 communicatingwith the associated nozzles 30 are closed by the associated first valves56, water is not supplied to those associated nozzles 30. Further, toachieve uniform supply of water over a wide area, a second valve 192 isregulated along with the control of other components as described above.When the second valve 192 is selectively opened or closed, a fallinglocation of water sprayed from the nozzles 30 can be varied. In thismanner, the water supplying location and distance can be adjusted bycontrolling the first and second valves 56 and 192.

With the sprinkler of the invention, water can be supplied to a desiredlocation not only by selectively opening the manifold pipes 54 asdescribed above, but also by controlling operation of the directionregulator 70. In other words, when the controller 100 drives a motor 74to supply water to a desired location, a driven shaft 72 and the nozzles30 are rotated.

In addition, the water supplying distance can be adjusted by controllingthe pump 22. In other words, water can be supplied to a far distance byincreasing an output of the pump 22, or can be supplied to a neardistance by lowering the output of the pump 22.

Further, the water supplying distance and location can be adjusted bychanging the spraying angles of the nozzles 30. In this embodiment,there is only a description of the component capable of mechanicallychanging the spraying angles of the nozzles 30, but it would be apparentto those skilled in the art that there are a number of componentscapable of changing the spraying angles of the nozzles 30 in response toa control signal generated in the controller 100. For example, thelocations or spraying angles of the nozzles 30 can be changed by drivinga nozzle driving unit 200 such as an actuator by a control signal. Thecomponents such as the actuator are obvious to those skilled in the art,and a detailed description and drawings thereof will be omitted herein.

Preferably, the sprinkler illuminates light to spraying water (S400).The controller 100 controls operation of a light device 200 toilluminate light to the spraying water. For example, the controller 100enables intermittent or continuous variation of brightness or color ofthe lighting device 200 in response to spraying information from theinput unit 110. The controller 100 controls the lighting device 200 toilluminate light while rotating. Alternatively, with a plurality oflighting devices 200 provided to the sprinkler, the lighting devices 200are selectively turned on or off to illuminate light to the sprayingwater by the controller 100. At this time, the spraying informationincludes presentation data for realizing various illumination effects,and the like. On the other hand, the change in brightness or color ofthe lighting device 200 can be performed by a brightness changingmechanism or a color changing mechanism not shown in the drawings.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to theembodiments and the accompanying drawings, the embodiments are given byway of illustration only, and, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that various modifications and other equivalent embodiments canbe made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Further, the sprinklers described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings are given by way of illustration only, and the sprinkleraccording to the present invention can be applied to other devices forsupplying fluids such as oil. Therefore, the scope of the presentinvention should be limited only by the accompanying claims.

1. A sprinkler, comprising: a fluid supply pipe to supply fluid; anozzle to spray the fluid supplied from the fluid supply pipe; a fluxregulator to control an amount of the fluid supplied to the nozzle; anda controller to control operation of the flux regulator.
 2. Thesprinkler according to claim 1, wherein the flux regulator comprises amanifold pipe communicating with the nozzle, and a first valve toselectively regulate the fluid supplied through the manifold pipe. 3.The sprinkler according to claim 2, wherein the flux regulator furthercomprises a second valve disposed between the water supply pipe and themanifold pipe to regulate the fluid supplied to the manifold pipe. 4.The sprinkler according to claim 1, wherein the flux regulator comprisesa second valve to regulate the fluid supplied to the nozzle.
 5. Thesprinkler according to claim 1, further comprising: a directionregulator to change a direction of the nozzle.
 6. The sprinkleraccording to claim 5, wherein the direction regulator comprises a drivenshaft and a driving unit to rotate the driven shaft.
 7. The sprinkleraccording to claim 6, wherein the driven shaft comprises a changing partto change a water spraying direction of the nozzle.
 8. The sprinkleraccording to claim 7, wherein the changing part comprises a support torestrict movement of the nozzle.
 9. The sprinkler according to claim 8,wherein the changing part comprises a ball provided to the support, acoupling piece coupled to the ball, and a restriction member provided tothe coupling piece to restrict movement of the ball.
 10. The sprinkleraccording to claim 1, further comprising: a lighting device toilluminate light in a water spraying direction.
 11. A method forcontrolling a sprinkler, comprising: receiving spraying information;determining a distance and area to be sprayed with a fluid according tothe received spraying information; and spraying the fluid by controllingat least one of a pump, a fluid controller, a nozzle, and a directionregulator according to the determined fluid spraying distance and area.12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of spraying thefluid comprises selectively regulating the fluid supplied through amanifold pipe communicating with the nozzle.
 13. The method according toclaim 11, wherein the step of spraying the fluid comprises selectivelyregulating the fluid supplied to the manifold.
 14. The method accordingto claim 11, wherein the step of spraying the fluid comprises sprayingthe fluid while rotating the nozzle with the direction regulator orspraying the fluid by selecting a specific nozzle among nozzles disposedin a circular arrangement.
 15. The method according to claim 11, whereinthe step of spraying the fluid comprises spraying the fluid whilechanging a spraying angle of the nozzle.
 16. The method according toclaim 11, further comprising: illuminating light to the spraying fluid.17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of illuminatinglight comprises changing brightness and color of light depending oninput presentation data.